Recently Chris painted our Loader Androbot model – and here’s how he did it 🙂 .

Assuming that the model is cleaned and assembled properly, first thing to do is priming. Metal parts are dominant feature of the model so we can help ourself putting the base colours right. Quickest method is to use black and white paint in spray can, but the effect will not be as good as using airbrush. When using airbrush we are able to control the colour and flow of the paint better, as well as be more accurate in general.First goes black with a bit of dark blue. After that add some white to the paint and spray it from the top. Be careful not to add too much highlights. Again add some white and paint only highest area. (pic 1,2,3)

After priming we will start from skin. There are parts that are hidden or hard to access and it will be easier to start from here. This guys don’t look 100% healthy so you can add a little bit of purple (or green or blue) to your skin colour, to make the skin feel a little unnatural. (4,5)

Now goes the metal parts. Highlights and shadows from the priming tells us, more or less, how the light should be reflected on the model. We need to manualy add a lot of more contrast to every surface of the model – make darker every connection lines, recesses, joints. On the other hand make brighter all edges, convexes. We paint also pneumatic parts and engine, using different colours or shades than the main body. (6-7)

After bigger parts are painted, there is time to paint the details like joints, cables, rings, details on the face… (8,9):

Androbot is almost done, but it doesn’t look credible. It’s too shiny, too clean, like he just came out from a box. It’s time to add some wear and dust. Use any type of glazes, inks, washes or even very dilluted paint, in brown colours. Pigments are great. Use whatever fits you, but be careful not to overdo because it’s easy to destroy previous effects.
Final corrections and restoring glitters after last effects and the model is ready!

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